Koreans Are Appalled At The Joint Ending Song At The Jamboree “K-POP SUPER LIVE” Concert

On August 11, the 2023 World Scout Jamboree held its main event, the K-POP SUPER LIVE, at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Your browser does not support video.| KBS World/YouTube 

The 2023 World Scout Jamboree was full of controversy, from its disastrous opening day, where children suffered from heatstrokes, to relocating 36,000 Scouts due to Typhoon Khanun. The K-Pop concert was a highly anticipated event among the Scouts and Korea, but the lack of preparation and the attempts to save face by inviting K-Pop idols to perform last minute made Korean netizens angry.

Before the K-POP SUPER LIVE concert took place, the schedule for the concert was posted to online communities. The sheet showed the schedule of the order of performances and which songs the artists will perform.

The cue sheet showed that the concert was split into two parts. Part one had HolyBang, THE BOYZ, THE NEW SIX, ATBO, Xikers, Jo Yuri, KARD, P1Harmony, and Libelante. Part two had ZEROBASEONE, NewJeans, Kwon Eunbi, fromis_9, Kang Daniel, SHOWNU X HYUNGWON, IVE, ITZY, MAMAMOO, and NCT Dream. At the end was a joint performance with all the K-Pop acts.

What netizens couldn’t help but notice was the last song on the list. It was a song for all the performers to sing together as the closing song, but Korean netizens did not like the song choice. It was the 1998 song “Balloons,” originally by the band Five Fingers.

It was made re-popular when TVXQ remade it in 2006.

At the K-POP SUPER LIVE, all the K-Pop idols who performed joined together to sing this song.

Your browser does not support video.NCT Dream performs “Balloon.” | KBS World/YouTube   Your browser does not support video.ITZY performs “Balloon.” | KBS World/YouTube      Your browser does not support video.All the acts perform “Balloon” together. | KBS World/YouTube  

“Balloons” is a song about reminiscing the innocent and imaginative childhood days when one used to dream about riding a balloon and flying in the sky. As it’s a song about the preciousness of youth, whoever chose this as the last song may have thought it fit well with the stadium of young Jamboree Scouts.

However, despite the meaningful song, many Korean netizens believed this was a random song and thought they should have chosen a song that represents Korea, and everybody knows. Some thought the idols should be sent home instead of being forced to wait to perform this song at the end. Others laughed at the song choice.

| theqoo

• “What do you mean a joint ending song? F*ck, send the idols home early after they’re done.”
• “Suddenly Balloons…..?”
• “TVXQ’s Balloons…?”
• “Balloons;;;;;;; Sing ‘We Are the World’ instead.”
• “Just don’t do an ending song, sigh.”
• “Balloons is so old…….”
• “What’s Balloons? Did SM make this decision LOL It’s the Jamboree, so they should do a song kids these days know.”
• “I died at Balloons… Just don’t do it or sing a BTS song. The kids from abroad wouldn’t know this song.”
• “Let them go home after the concert. They probably want to escape.”
• “Did they plan this with SM? Wth is Balloons?”
• “After they each finish their set, send them home… An ending song? That’s stupid”
• “Wait LOL Sing a song that everybody would know instead. What do you mean Balloons hahahahahaha. Balloons is a good song but the Jamboree attendees wouldn’t know it LOL”
• “Suddenly Balloons…. They have no common sense from beginning to end.”
• “Balloons hahahahahahah”
• “Hahahahahahahhahahahah BAL hahahAHhahahahah LOONS hahahaha”
• “They should do an internationally famous song as the last song. Balloons…? Who even knows that? Even ‘Gangnam Style’ would be better.”
• “The last song is so tacky. Who even sings this song anymore?”
• “Balloons f*ck hahhaahahahahahahahahaha Ah…. It’s the 2000s vibe. It’s so old…. Ha…. It’s f*cking tacky”
• “Balloons? Why would they sing this when foreigners wouldn’t even know it? Send the singers home after their performances. The Jamboree kids would be tired, too so don’t do a joint ending song; just send them all home.”
• “Balloons f*ck LOOOOL They’re at the age where they wouldn’t even know TVXQ’s Balloons LOL”
• “Sing Butter instead. Who in this generation knows Balloons…?”
• “What the…. Let them just go home…”
• “Why Balloons… Sing Heal the World instead.”
• “They’re going to hold onto all the performers til the end… even after they made them all change their schedules last minute..”
• “Balloons LOL I looked it up and two years after Balloons came out, NewJeans’ youngest member was born LOL”
• “You should’ve done Gangnam Style, you idiots…”
• “Wow, all the singers have to wait until the end. But why Balloons?”
• “Foreigners are coming yet the ending song is Balloons..? They should do a pop song everybody knows.”
• “It’s not an SM concert or anything. So why Balloons?”
• “If they’re gonna choose a song unrelated to the K-Pop performers, then shouldn’t they have done a BTS song or PSY’s Gangnam Style? Why choose a song from 40 years ago?”
• “They should do a song kids from all over the world know…”
• “Who knows Balloons these days?”

What are your thoughts?